Viola exits State House with tribute to APM: Analysts Thindwa says ‘infighting’ in DPP

Former presidential press secretary Gerald Viola has finally vacated State House and paid tribute to President Peter Mutharika for appointing his as his spokesman before disappointing him with redeployment.

Viola: Redeployed

Viola said he was looking forward to another equally challenging job at Ministry of Information.

The former press secretary said that his new job as an advisor to ministry of information is a step further in his career.

“I feel honoured to serve as advisor to the ministry,” said Viola local radio referring to the job many are describing as a job without job description.

“The President valued my presence at State House. I never expected that he would appoint me for yet another senior position in government. The element of being at State House is nothing but the important thing is to serve the president and the nation anywhere and at any position,” said Viola.

However, posting on his Facebook wall, journalist Idriss ali Nassa wondered how Viola would advise the ministry when himself is “technically illiterate” and needs advice.

Some people on social media have been expressing concern that the President has taken ministry of information and Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) as dumping site for the “dead wood”, people he has booted out of State House.

Meanwhile, Ernest Thindwa, a political science lecturer at the Chancellor College of the University of Malawi, has observed that the instability of Mutharika’s press aides shows there could be “infighting” in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and that people are “jostling for positions.”

President Mutharika has since been advised to pick someone who can manage information.

A Viola osadzilimbitsa mtima. Apa mukumva kupweteka mthiti chifukwa cha mkwiyo. Advisor, advisor for what, to who? Is it, maybe a Chief idiot advising fellow idiots in a Ministry of idiots, kapenatu eti? It is a known fact that you have been chucked out of state house because you were bringing shame to the President when you took pleasure in satisfying your libidous stick on a young idiot.